Behavioral Health Response to Disasters

Disaster Discussion 5

TEXT:

Forum Assignment for the Week: 300 Words minimumFor this week’s Forum, respond to the following: On September 11th, 2001, the United States was the target of terrorists, suffering mass casualties, including thousands of lives lost as an immediate result of the terrorist attacks and many more to follow for years to come. Casualties not often thought of immediately are the psychological casualties of such an event, particularly those who may not have been involved in the tragic events first hand. However, Hoffman and Kruczek (2011) share a perspective worth considering in the discussion of the effects of terrorism, highlighting random survey results that indicated media exposure to the terrorist attacks revealing endorsements of PTSD by about half of surveyed adults, with one third restricting television access due to the traumatic nature of the event.

· Do significant concerns related to the psychosocial development and functioning and potential of adverse reactions, such as the development of PTSD, exist with these types of indirect exposures to terrorist events?

Remember to respond to at least three classmates during the week in the discussion forum.

***Your post must also end with a “Question to the Class” – something related to the topic that you found thought-provoking and about which you’d like to know more and have further dialog. ***

General Instructions Applicable to All Forums:

Forum post source citation is not required for forum posting in our class. This is because we are engaging in conversation that happens to be in writing form, not composing essays or research papers. You will, however, need to paraphrase (restate in your own words) any words of published authors in parts of your posts that are based on their work. Copying of published material, which is plagiarism, is prohibited and any instances of it, including forum posts, will result in a zero score without an option for re-submission to recoup lost points and a report sent to the Registrar’s Office per University policy.

Discussion forum posts will be graded on verbal expression, critical thinking, making an effort to not just participate in but contribute to the dialog with initial and reply posts of a substantive nature commensurate with graduate level studies. Posts must have correct grammatical construction, spelling, and punctuation with no texting or other casual style language.